


Reaching the Sea

by walking_through_autumn



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Gen, Happy Ending, Not Canon Compliant, Seeing the Sea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 21:33:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walking_through_autumn/pseuds/walking_through_autumn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They all look at Armin, even Erwin. Except Armin is not looking at them, he’s gripping on Mikasa’s and Eren’s arms so hard he’ll leave bruises. A long moment later he whispers, “It’s the sea.” </p>
<p>Written for an SnK Kink Meme prompt, where everybody gets to see the sea in the end. Not canon compliant - many who are supposed to be dead are well and alive in here. Also ignores revelation of titan identities. Just a spot of happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reaching the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Cleaning up for the old year and bringing in the new. Have a fic not yet posted here. 
> 
> Written to satisfy the need for happiness, and this prompt was too good to resist. Includes most named members of the Scouting Legion according to manga events. 
> 
> Enjoy, and have a very Happy New Year!

For a moment it does not seem real. This far out, far beyond the walls, it’s like the colours are brighter, the sounds sharper, the smells and tastes so much more intense than they can imagine. They’ve marched on for so long, keeping a careful account of their travels and charting out the landscape on an ever-expanding map, that it comes to them almost unexpected. The trees they march through are unfamiliar, dry with rounded trunks and large, flat leaves, and the wind smells different.

“Salt,” Armin says, wonder in his voice.

Not a minute later they break through the trees and the sun comes down intense, blinding – it takes a while for them to shade their eyes and get used to the sudden burst of light. And when they get used to it they fall silent, looking around. The sound of water crashing against land, the wind rushing over them, ruffling their hair, bringing the sharp smell of salt to them, they’ve never seen anything like this within the walls.

They all look at Armin, even Erwin. Except Armin is not looking at them, he’s gripping on Mikasa’s and Eren’s arms so hard he’ll leave bruises. A long moment later he whispers, “It’s the sea.”

Nobody really registers this until Eren drops his supplies on the ground with a muffled thump, the strange land they’re standing on soft and absorbing sound. “The sea – it’s the sea! Armin, it’s the sea!” Eren cries out. They’ve not heard such excitement in his voice before. For a while it’s like he’s fifteen again; but he’s grown now, shoulders broadened, face sharp and weary and experienced after this long, long war. The grin that lights up his face erases the weariness. “Mikasa, it’s the sea!” he says, as though she hadn’t heard that the first time around.

Connie whoops. “I don’t care what this sea is, but it’s a freaking large pool of water, ain’t it!”

“Are you sure it’s not poisonous?” Levi says, voice flat. The silver edge of his hair shines in the bright sunlight. “It smells funny.”

“It’s just salt, seventy percent of the world is covered in this water. And if you travel far enough across it, there must be continents there too, places mankind have never seen before for a hundred years!” Armin’s excitement is obvious now that he’s gotten over his shock. He drags Eren and Mikasa along, stumbling in the soft land. “And this must be sand! The grainy land that lies under the sea. And that’s what they call the horizon, though there’s more sea after that – ” his voice trails off as he leads Eren and Mikasa along, all three of them tripping over each other and laughing, as though they haven’t trained as soldiers before.

“Come on guys! Sasha, this is no time to eat, come on!” Connie grips Sasha and pulls her along, catching up with Armin. Sasha munches on a potato and runs along, wind running through and tangling her short hair. It has been cut short after a titan had grabbed her by the hair and she had narrowly escaped.

But some things never change – she chokes down her last mouthful and sprints after Connie, whooping and yelling, “This sand thing is a hard thing ta run on, eh!”

“Why are they such brats even now?” Jean grumbles to himself. Somebody laughs beside him. “Not you too, Marco?”

“I would run like them if I could, you know,” Marco says with a twinkle in his eye. With Jean as his support he drags his right leg after him, careful on where he places his weight. “This ground _is_ hard to walk on, though. Not much support.”

“Need any help, Marco, Jean?” Reiner asks, looking concerned. “Maybe you shouldn’t get in the water…”

Marco waves away his concerns. “I’ll be fine. Maybe you should be more worried about Bert.”

“Bert?” Reiner turns to look at Bertholdt. “Oi, you’re sweating again, what’s wrong?”

“He’s always sweating,” Jean says.

Bertholdt mutters something which Reiner leans in to catch. His eyes widen in understanding. “Oh. Right. Bert doesn’t like water much.”

Annie sighs. “Reiner, you’re just an idiot who forgot.”

“I never knew that!” Mina says from beside Annie. “But that’ll be a shame, Bert, this water is so – so large! Annie, won’t you come in with me too?”

“No.”

“Aww, don’t say that!” Mina grasps Annie’s hand and pulls her along. “Look, even Dazz is gonna give it a try!”

“That’s because Dazz is an idiot who’s finally learnt to stop crying at everything,” Ymir says.

“Ymir,” Christa says, half sigh and half scolding, the tone of someone who’s used to Ymir and her way of insulting everyone. “Just because you’re scared of water – ”

“I am _not_ scared of water!” Ymir says, affronted in a way which confirms to everyone that perhaps it’s not just Bertholdt who harbours a secret fear. Christa seems to pick up on that too, because her eyes twinkle – a warning sign to anyone smart enough.

Ymir begins to sprint away. Christa chases after her. And Thomas makes a sound of alarm when Ymir throws him in the way to stop Christa’s dash. The two of them collide and fall on top of an unfortunate Samuel, making a heap of tangled limbs and bruised ribs.

“Are they soldiers or children?” Levi asks.

Erwin laughs, deep and rumbling but rusty. It’s as though he’s learning to laugh after a long time. “It’s no harm, we all deserve to let loose.” He passes the reins of his horse over to Ness and Cis, who have huge grins as they take care of the horses and lead them to a safe spot.

Levi sniffs. “We have a mission to complete mapping the landscape, _Commander_.”

Erwin only laughs again, looking at the sea but, above all, looking at the soldiers running around with a fondness in his eyes. “I’m sure we can spare some time. And mapping the sea is surely part of the job.”

“But not entering that big-ass pool of water which can contain all sorts of gross things.”

“Doesn’t seem harmful to me,” Erwin says with a thoughtful look.

“Famous last words, Erwin Smith.”

“What do you think, Mike?”

Mike sniffs once more. Not like he hasn’t been working his nose since the beginning, but he takes in a deeper whiff this time and shrugs. “Doesn’t smell like anything that will kill us,” he says.

“Lighten up!” Hanji says, thumping Levi’s back hard despite Moblit’s constant protests that she’s rushing to an early death. She probably treats his protests as background noise by now. “Not like we’ll allow ourselves to be killed after surviving all that!”

Levi growled. “Then you go in there for all I care, shitty excuse for a scientist.”

“Oh, I will! But not without you. What fun will that be?”

“Hanji – ” Petra’s protest falls on deaf ears when the woman just grips on Levi’s arm and tugs him along. Levi looks like he wants desperately to cut her with his blades, only that Erwin had confiscated it the moment they reached this…sea…thing. “Oh dear. We can’t leave the Captain alone to her, guys,” she says, looking over at Erd, Gunter, and Auruo. “You don’t have to come along though, Auruo.”

Auruo huffs. “You don’t have to go such a round-about way in admitting your love for me.”

“Please reserve your fantasies for when you’re asleep,” she says, rolling her eyes. The wrinkles around her eyes lighten when she turns to Gunter and says, “Need any help?”

“Naw, I’m feeling better. Just hard to look around,” Gunter says, rubbing at the neck brace. “Let’s go save the Captain then.”

Erd laughs and points in the direction Hanji had headed. “I think there’s no saving him.”

Where the sea meets land, everybody had paused. There’re a lot of people crouching along the line, touching the water and – to Levi’s extreme disgust – tasting it.

“It _is_ salty!” Sasha declares with wonder. “Are there things inside we can eat?”

“I heard there’re fish and lots of wonderful creatures. Not sure if you can eat them, though,” Armin says.

Mikasa, quiet up till now, contented with just observing Eren and Armin, says, “Maybe not, to be safe.” She tucks her hair, still kept short, behind her ear.

Eren is obviously itching to know more – he’s creeping closer and closer to the water’s edge, boots getting wet from the contact with the water.

The stalemate between man and sea is broken when Connie, with a loud yell, takes a running leap and splashes into the sea, clothes and all. Milius makes a sound of concern, exchanges a doubtful glance with Nack, until Connie emerges and declares, “It’s fucking cold! _Awesome_!”

Sasha is the next to join, spurred on by the thought of having exotic, possibly delicious fish to eat. “Whoohoo!” she shouts as she jumps into the sea. “Cold!”

For an already impatient Eren, it’s all the invitation he needs to run further into the water. Armin splashes after him, with a calmer Mikasa following behind. Even she cannot hide a shudder from the sudden cold of the water, and she draws her scarf, worn but still well cared for after a decade and a half, closer around her neck.

“Fuck, this stings!” Eren says after Connie splashes some water in his face. “Oh shit, Connie, you little prick!” It’s not that effective when he’s laughing as he says this.

And thus begins the great splashing war, the war to end all wars.

“Fucking disgusting,” Levi says, finally having managed to work off Hanji’s grip. He figures he can stand here on the shore, safe from the soldiers who he swears have become tiny brats once more. What he hadn’t counted on was a sudden, strong grip around him from behind. Years of living in the underground behind Wall Sina had trained him to attack on instinct. Years of being in the military had taught him to recognize friend from foe. And this, he knows, is a friend with a taste for pranks.

“On three, Nanaba!” Gerger shouts. So the one grabbing his legs is Nanaba.

“Go guys! We’ll hold your funeral for you!” Rene shouts. Henning has dissolved into laughter beside her and is clutching onto Toma’s shoulder for support.

“Gerger, Nanaba, if you know what’s good for you – ” Levi threatens, not having much purchase to retaliate or escape their grasp.

“One!” Hanji cheers and scampers off to the side, eyes wide as though waiting for a good show.

“Two!” Petra begins muttering prayers for Gerger and Nanaba, both of whom will die a painful death, it seems.

“Three!” Off Captain Levi goes, somehow maintaining his scowl and dignity even after he lands in the water to the cheers of everyone around him. Eren grabs his shoulders and laughs, ignoring the death glare Levi sends his way.

“Captain Levi!” he says in a happy, sort of giddy manner. He doesn’t even seem to know what to say. Just laughs and takes Levi hitting him over the head in good grace. His laughter sounds strange, choked and not very smooth, and his eyes seem red from more than just the salt in the water. Levi sighs and relaxes his fist, rests his palm on Eren’s wet hair for a while before he turns and tries to trudge back to land.

But then Gerger and Nanaba are sprinting into the water, yelling apologies and not really meaning it. So Levi stays a while more and gets his revenge by dunking their heads under water. There’s a lot of bubbles and flailing and them knocking against each other while they try to surface. And when he does allow them to come up for air he knocks their feet out from under them. Nanaba gives a strange sort of yelp mingled with laughter as he falls backward.

“Don’t think we’re even,” Levi says.

Gerger chuckles, contented to stay floating on the surface after Levi had knocked him back. “Wouldn’t dream about it, Captain.”

“Captain!” Erd waves from the shore, slowly making his way in. “This is pretty awesome!”

“So you say,” Levi scoffs, eyeing Auruo’s less than graceful way of splashing in. “Are you guys five years old now, too?”

“We’ll be back to large plains of nothingness soon enough anyway, might as well have fun here,” Erd reasons. “The Commander agreed.”

“Erwin Smith is a dumbfuck, that’s why,” Levi says without any heat in it.

“I heard that, Levi,” Erwin says. Compared to everyone, he at least has the good sense to remove his jacket before carefully making his way into the water.

“This is fucking filthy,” Levi says, looking around at all the people splashing around and attempting to swim before they realize their wet clothes are dragging them down. “We’ll take forever to dry.”

“Not in this sun we won’t!” Hanji says cheerfully. “But that’s not the important part. I think the salt in the water makes it easier to float! It’s probably something to do with the human bodily make up compared to the water – ”

“Will you shut up for once in your life?” Levi asks, a tic beginning to develop above his eye.

“Nope!”

Levi dunks her just to shut her up.

In the end it takes two hours before everyone is willing to get out of the water. In the future days, when they march through a vast land, they remember these moments in the two hours. Sasha attempting to go diving for fish after she sees small fish swimming in the shallow areas, somebody suggesting an impromptu wedding for Franz and Hannah, and a prank war being waged where top points are scored if anyone manages to catch Captain Levi to dunk him under the water – Armin and Erwin are the leaders of the two teams, leading to the most intense tag war anyone has ever seen before. Tired people sitting on the shore and cheering the teams on. Mikasa proving herself as effective in water as she is on land, and coming closest to catching Levi before being thwarted by Levi’s squad protecting him. Nobody winning, and everybody floating in the water and watching the clouds in the sky.

The maps lie forgotten at the edge separating trees from sand. Later, when they fill it in, Armin is given the honour of demarcating a huge portion of the map and labeling it “Sea”.

Below it Erwin draws the wings of the Scouting Legion. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated :)


End file.
